Page 80 of Her Hat Trick Daddies
“I don’t like the idea of three guys being around my niece. With you. I don’t like that you didn’t tell me sooner. I don’t like that one of them swung at me.” He pauses, scrubbing a hand over his face. “But… at the same time, it was indefenseof you. And I can be mature enough to recognize that. Respect that.”
His hands drop. He looks up at the ceiling for a beat, like he’s searching for the right words, then meets my eyes again. He’s obviously wrestling with it all.
“I saw how they looked at her. At you. And that wasn’t fake.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
He exhales hard through his nose. “It’s going to take time, Leigh. I’m not saying I approve. But I’m not going to be the reason you lose something good. I just… I need time.”
“I can live—”
“I’m not done,” he interrupts, but his voice is soft. “And look, Leigh… I feel like shit for bringing up Mom. I know she wouldn’t judge you. I was shocked, blindsided, so yeah, I was trying to hurt you because I felt hurt. That was messed up. Childish. But you’ve got to understand where I’m coming from. I see crazy shit all the time in my line of work. My instinct is to assume the worst… and I did. About them. About you.”
He swallows hard, eyes glinting. “I was so damn angry, Leigh. At everything. At you, at Dad, at the whole damn world. But mostly at that drunk bastard who ran a red light and took mom from us. I never said it out loud. Never dealt with it. Just shoved it all down and expected you to carry it. And sometimes, my temper still gets the better of me, and I shouldn’t take it out on you.”
I blink back tears. “I miss her too. Every single day… some days I still think I hear her humming in the kitchen.”
“Yeah.” He nods, jaw tight, voice like gravel. “I know. I wasn’t old enough then, but if I’d been there that night… if I’d seen him step out of that car when mom was… gone at the scene…” His throat works around the words. “I swear to God, he wouldn’t have walked away.”
Dad doesn’t say a word. Just watches us, eyes locked on my brother, lips pressed into a trembling line. His jaw ticks. And those eyes, usually so steady, are glassy now, rimmed red with grief that never really left. My heart twists painfully in my chest, like it’s trying to fold in on itself. Grief is a strange thing. It doesn’t fade. It just settles deeper.
“I’m sorry,” Wyatt says, quieter now. “I’m sorry for hurting you. And I’m sorry for doing it in front of Lu-Lu.”
“Thank you for owning up to that,” I whisper, wiping a tear from my cheek.
He shrugs like it stings. “Don’t thank me yet. I’m still on probation with those three knuckleheads. But I’ll try.”
“They’re good guys. You’ll both see.”
That’s enough for now. Maybe more than enough.
For a while, no one speaks. Then Dad clears his throat, his voice hoarse. “Your mom would’ve been proud of you both. Of how you’re finding your way back to each other, to happy lives.”
He doesn’t say more. He doesn’t have to. But when he reaches across the table and covers my hand with his, I lose it all over again.
We sit there together, the three of us. And for the first time all day, things feel like they might just be okay.
Later, when the house is quiet again, I find myself standing over Luna's crib. I watch her in the soft light, her little limbs sprawled out, the pig still clutched close.
I’ve spent so much time over the past three years being sad. Feeling like I might not be enough for my baby girl. Doing this alone.
But after tonight, I know I’m not alone anymore.
This new family might not look like anyone else’s. But it’s real. And it’s ours.
Chapter 25
Andy
That was a damn mess. How’d we go from a high note to crashing and burning like this? I’m almost certain Leighton was fixing to say yes to spending the weekend with us, to let us get a taste of what it’s like having her and Luna in our world, but then the whole thing just went to hell in a handbasket. And the worst part? I don’t know if there’s any coming back from it.
Pfft. Her brother had that punch coming, no question. Deserved every bit of it. But Shane being the one to throw it? Yeah, not exactly ideal. Leighton’s already got it in her head that he’s got a short fuse, and this just proves her point. But in his defense, he was protecting her. We all were.
What if she decides he’s not cut out to be a dad? Hell, what if she writes off all three of us?
Now here we are, bellied up to David’s bar, knocking back his good whiskey, the kind he saves for bad days and worse nights. None of us are saying a damn word. What is there to say? Ain’tlike we could’ve predicted her old man and her brother would show up swinging their weight around. Or that Wyatt would act like a damn fool.
But the fact that she lumped us in with him… it says a lot. Like we’re just as much the problem. We’ve taken our share of hits before, licked our wounds after some brutal losses on the ice, but this? This cuts deeper.
